MAMMOTH CAVE, Ky., April 9, 2015 – Mammoth Cave National Park joins parks, programs and partners across the country to encourage people to find their park and share their stories online at FindYourPark.com. Find Your Park is the theme of National Park Week 2015, and a public awareness and education campaign celebrating the milestone centennial anniversary of the National Park Service in 2016 and setting the stage for its second century of service.

Find Your Park invites the public to see that a national park can be more than a place – it can be a feeling, a state of mind, or a sense of American pride. Beyond vast landscapes, the campaign highlights historical, urban, and cultural parks, as well as the National Park Service programs that protect, preserve and share nature, culture, and history in communities nationwide.“We invite the public to ‘find your park’ during Mammoth Cave’s National Park Week events,” said Superintendent Sarah Craighead. “Follow a ranger in search of bird calls and wildflowers. Join a workshop on nature photography or painting. Take a free cave tour, or bring the entire family out for a picnic. And just for fun, all week we will ask visitors to take a ‘selfie’ in front of a big map as they point to their own favorite national park, and hashtag it #FindYourPark.”

April 18 & 19 – Free cave tours: Mammoth Cave Discovery Tour and Mammoth Passage ToursParticipants must pick up a free ticket in the visitor center before going on these tours. Both the Mammoth Cave Discovery Tour on Saturday and the Mammoth Passage Tour on Sunday require a walk down and up the steep hill below the visitor center, as well as 160 steps. Visit the Rotunda, one of the largest rooms, explore a vast canyon passageway, and learn about 19th-century saltpeter mining operations and the geologic origins of Mammoth Cave on each of these tours.

Sunday, April 19 – Mammoth Passage Tourswill depart from the visitor center at the following times: 8:45, 10:15,12:15, 2:00, and 4:30. The ¾-mile, 1¼-hour Mammoth Passage tour is limited to 40 people.

April 25 – Junior Ranger DayLearn outdoor skills such as orienteering, first aid, knot tying, water safety and how to build a campfire. Skills like these can be the foundation for a lifetime of adventures. All activities meet at the visitor center and will last about 45 minutes. A special event patch may be earned.9:30 a.m. Basic Orienteering10:30 a.m., Beyond a Band-aid11:30 a.m., Knots to Know12:30 p.m., Safety on the Water1:30 p.m., Pioneer Children’s Games2:30 p.m., Campfire Building - Tips and TricksNote: tour requirements regarding white-nose syndrome (WNS) in bats: While there are no known harmful effects to humans, WNS is responsible for the death of millions of hibernating bats across the eastern United States since its discovery in 2006. WNS was found in Mammoth Cave in winter 2012-13. To minimize the spread of WNS fungus, all participants on cave tours must walk across bio-security mats to clean footwear immediately following the conclusion of their tour.